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July 28, 2012

Well friends,
it's been over a week now...Every morning I had to pass by my beloved and head for the four-wheeled cage to go to work. And it's been awful on many levels.

I've been trying to fix her by myself but there is always that nagging feeling that I may have made it worse (and I probably have). I like to think that I can find a way to fix any problem, but unfortunately, reality looks a bit different.

There's a long beautiful passage in Pirsig's book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", where he talks about "gumption", that feeling of trust and peace you have to strive for when repairing a motorcycle....or doing anything else for that matter. Yes, I get it. I've experienced it on occasions.

This time though, I'm very close to throw in the towel and, god help me, take the bike to a Thai mechanic. gulp This option opens a new can of worms. Riders who know Thai bike shops, know what I'm talking about.

I don't know what is worse: the shame of not being able to fix it by myself or the terrible pains of extended riding withdrawal?

July 26, 2012

Thai people are known for being quite superstitious. When Thais buy a new bike or car, one of the first things they do is to go to the local temple and ask a monk to perform a blessing on it.

This Yamaha SR is up for sale right now. Apparently, the owner went a step further and besides the monk blessing (flowers on the handlebar) and lucky dice on the tank he thought it would be a good idea to install a fire extinguisher!
Pessimism on 2 wheels?

July 2, 2012

We're all constantly looking at bikes as if they were beautiful women. We drool over them, we imagine riding them and the sound they would make when we bring them to their climax at 12.000rpm. We stalk them, we take pictures of them with a mixture of admiration and jealousy, because there's some other guy out there riding it instead of us. We download, save, share, "like", post pictures all over the net to show the world we are into bike porn...and are proud of it.

But what about the other side of the scale? The minger, the ugly duckling, the overweight, fatass bikes we would never dream of riding, let alone being seen with by one of our friends, who would hold that against us for the rest of our lives. Wouldn't they?!

So, this is a safe place to confess. Nobody will know.What is the bike you really despise and wouldn't ride if your life depended on it?

The Gem

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